We went down to Austin last week for the first time in a few years. Austin's about 3 hours away from where we grew up in Fort Worth so we thought it'd be fun to go there to spend time with friends and with my parents before returning to Fort Worth to spend time with other people in our family.

We got up at 3:55 am on Saturday to make our flight. Seattle's new light rail doesn't run that early, so we had to pay to take an airport shuttle. The freeway was pretty empty but the airport was surprisingly busy.

We flew into the Denver airport, which was very busy, where we grabbed a mediocre fast food lunch and caught our next flight into Austin. We arrived in Austin at around 2 in the afternoon and the weather was beautiful - clear skies and 70 degrees.

Our friends picked us up from the airport and then we walked around the University of Texas campus and went up to the UT Tower for a view of the city. We're all pretty laid back people, so we spent a good amount of time hanging out, playing a game called Wits & Wagers, reminiscing, and watching online videos.

The next day we went to Round Rock donuts, which was featured on a TV show because of a very large donut they sell. The regular-sized glazed donuts I had there were very good. We drove to Zilker Park afterward in some incredibly bad traffic. There was a city-wide garage sale going on, so we checked out some of the antiques and things in there, before heading to the park. Lesley wanted to stop on the way to eat at Schlotzsky's Deli since there are not any locations in Seattle. We rented canoes at the park, and though canoing was a little difficult, it was a lot of fun to do that for about an hour. Afterward, we rode a little train around the park to look at all the kites involved in the kite festival that was going on. Then, walking on our way back to the car, we stopped for some Tex-Mex and margaritas at Baby Acapulco's. It was our first Tex-Mex since July and it was a great Texas experience to sit and eat outside to have great Tex-Mex and margaritas. We had a really good time hanging out.

The next day, my parents and brother picked up Lesley and I and we went to eat some home-style cooking at a local restaurant for lunch. After that, we went to the top of Mount Bonnell to check out the view and walk around in the nice weather. It's one of the highest points in the city and is comparable in elevation to some of the high points in Seattle. After that, we went to the Mayfield Park and Nature Preserve, where several peacocks roamed around the grounds.

Later that day, we went to the LBJ presidential library, which had a lot of information on LBJ's presidency. That evening we had some Texas barbecue at the Salt Lick. We explored Austin a bit more, including famous 6th Street.

Unfortunately, the weather the next day was wet. We went to the Texas Memorial Museum, which had several fossils and geodes and other cool stuff. For lunch, my parents tried Thai food for the first time. We visited the Texas Capitol building afterward and then while my dad and brother went to walk at a park, my mom and Lesley and I went to the Harry Ransom Center at UT. There was a really cool exhibit on filmmaking, which explained the job of the major roles in making a movie (e.g. producer, cinematographer, etc) and had old scripts, costumes, and other artifacts from famous movies. Later that day we went to see Austin's bats and walked along the river. Unfortunately it was rather breezy and cold and the bats were a little underwhelming. However, afterward we all went to Mellow Mushroom for a pizza dinner, which was very good. We played a game of UNO that night back at the hotel. The next day we left around 10 to go back to Fort Worth.

I had a really good time in Austin. I got a much better feel for the city than I ever had before and gained a better understanding of how it considers itself weird. The heart of the city had fewer chains and more character than DFW along with hints of radical political ideology. While the development pattern was rather typical for Texas, the river, hills, and trees seemed more central to the city's identity and lifestyle than geographic features in other major TX cities. Anyway, I had a pretty good time and would be interested in going back someday.